Building online community vitality : effects of social and economic incentives

Abstract

This thesis investigates the effectiveness of social and economic incentives in online community marketing. We conducted a large-scale field experiment across 300+ WeChat groups, managed by a subsidiary company of a Fortune 500 corporation in China. We implemented a coupon-claiming event that combined two types of incentives: Social incentives (WeChat red packets) and economic incentives (fuel-coupon-claim program in WeChat). A two-phase experiment was conducted: First, we distributed WeChat red packets within the groups; second, we launched the coupon claim program. We then tracked user engagement, coupon collection rates, and subsequent offline refueling behavior. During the coupon distribution phase, we randomly divided WeChat groups into three categories: (1) a control group receiving standard coupons, (2) a treatment group where the Fortune 500 parent company’s profit-sharing message was displayed, and (3) another treatment group showing the subsidiary’s profit-sharing message. This experiment yielded two key findings: First, both social and economic incentives led to increased offline refueling behavior. Second, consumer participation rates in the coupon-claiming campaign were significantly higher when we featured the parent company’s profit-sharing information. These results suggest that big firms can leverage their social image to enhance consumer engagement in promotional activities, thus could drive higher purchase rates. Our findings jointly contribute to the under- standing of online community marketing strategies and demonstrate how firms can effectively leverage both social and economic incentives to enhance consumer engagement and drive purchasing behavior in online communities.